Lake boater who survived 22 hours in the Gulf: 'I made up my mind – I'm not going to give up'

August 23, 2013|By Erica Rodriguez, Orlando Sentinel

CRYSTAL RIVER — Efstathios "Steve" Moumouris could see his rescuers in the distance as they searched the choppy waters of the Gulf of Mexico about two miles from where he'd been tossed from his stalled 16-foot fishing boat Wednesday afternoon.

But they couldn't see him.

At one point, a rescue team flew directly overhead as Moumouris struggled to stay afloat amid the relentless waves.

For nearly 22 hours, 51-year-old Moumouris drifted without a life vest in the Gulf, talking to God and thinking of his family and friends. It was his way, Moumouris said, of staying focused — of surviving.

Moumouris never thought he'd last for more than an hour after tumbling into the ocean. On Friday, sunburned and speaking from a wheelchair, he told his harrowing story.

"I'm going to be honest with you, when it first happened I thought maybe I've got a half an hour, 20 minutes without a life vest on or anything else," he said at Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center where he was recovering.

"I made my mind up, 'I'm not going to give up. Somebody is going to have to pull me down and drown me.' "

About an hour before Moumouris fell into the waves, he had snapped a photo of himself with a redfish that he'd wrangled from the ocean.

Moumouris was alone, about four miles from shore, fishing and scalloping on his day off. But when the weather turned sour, he scrambled for his life vest, only to be tossed from his vessel.

"It just completely went to the side," he said. "And just as it did that, I was over. I didn't even touch the boat. No part of my body touched the boat, and I think I had the life vest by the strap."

Within seconds, the current swept Moumouris about 40 yards from the boat and farther from shore. At one point he tried to make his fishing shirt into a floating device, but he gave up.

As the day turned to night, he used a nearby power plant and the moon as focal points as he tried, without success, to make his way to shore.

Meanwhile, Moumouris' wife, Sia Moumouris, phoned Citrus County Sheriff's officials at about 8:30 p.m. to report her husband missing. U.S. Coast Guard and state officials launched a search that eventually spanned 225 square miles on Thursday by air and boat.

Moumouris continued battling the waves until about midnight when he spotted what he thought was a shrimp boat about 500 yards away. He swam toward it, but then the lights went out and the boat pulled away.

Tired, thirsty and sleepless, Moumouris thought about quitting.

"The seas were choppy," he said. "It was a struggle just to keep the water out of my body — just to breathe."

He would turn on his back, but the smallest little wave would wash over him just as he was trying to take a breath. At that point, he said, "You just want — to just — to quit."

At 4 a.m. rescuers found Moumouris' empty boat floating about nine miles from the Fort Island boat ramp where he had launched. The ominous news, however, didn't deter Sia Moumouris, Steve Moumouris' wife of 28 years.

"I felt at peace that he was still out there," she said.

About 1 p.m. Moumouris was still floating aimlessly when a family of tourists on the lookout for Moumouris spotted him bobbing in the waters.

"They all grabbed a piece of me and just put me in the boat," he said. "And I'm very thankful because I might have had four more hours maybe, at the most. I could tell I was going. I wasn't going to give up but thank God they came by when they came by."

Moumouris was wrinkled, dehydrated and slightly hypothermic, but otherwise in good condition. Doctors say the warm water helped him from further physical damage, and they plan to keep him for at least another day.

Friday, Moumouris chided himself for failing to wear his life vest, adding that the experience served as a wake up call for him to be more aware of his safety. He plans to continue fishing alone in the Gulf —despite his wife's objections — and hopes the two can get back to running their popular Greek restaurant in Eustis soon.

Until then, he still can't completely understand how he survived the 22 hours at sea, but believes he still has plenty of living to do.

"I try to swim in the pool and I swim for five minutes and say, eh, I'm getting out," he said. "I guess when your life is on the line, it just comes out from somewhere, and I still think I have a lot of living to do. I have a beautiful family, real good friends and that's what kept me going. That and my faith."